


Silent Noita

by LooNEY_DAC



Category: Stand Still Stay Silent
Genre: Gen, Pre-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-21
Updated: 2016-11-21
Packaged: 2018-09-01 07:01:53
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 567
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8614246
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LooNEY_DAC/pseuds/LooNEY_DAC
Summary: Ensi & Lalli are alike in more than just looks.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Lunarium](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lunarium/gifts), [Kiraly](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kiraly/gifts).



> Since you both wanted Hotakainen backstory, this treat. I hope you both like it.

Ensi Hotakainen glided through the forest silently, Lalli, her small grandson, equally silent beside her. The ashen-haired duo, one large, one small, went out together in these woods ever and anon, and no troll they happened across was safe.

Ensi knew the woods well, and she was determined that Lalli should know them too, as much as he could, before the time came--but that was for later; _now_ was the most important concern for her as she led her youngest grandchild hither and thither. Wood and swamp, lake and islet; all these were her gift to Lalli.

There were murmurs about ‘child endangerment’ and such; but the child _was_ immune, and this was _Ensi Hotakainen_ , so the murmurs were always behind closed doors, and far from where the mage might overhear. Besides, an argument could be made that bringing a child into the world anywhere outside Bornholm or Iceland was ‘child endangerment’, as the trading roster by the dock showed with its lined-through names.

The pair of them were always quiet, but what really freaked people out was how they would just appear and vanish as if out of nowhere, and how they seemed to communicate without speech or gesture of any kind. Ensi’s boys were used to such things, of course, and their wives gradually grew accustomed to it as well, Anne-Marie perhaps more easily than Tuulikki, who hated surprises of any kind. As long as everything in Tuulikki’s life went as it was supposed to, all was well; but she couldn’t handle the unexpected, even if it was good.

Tuulikki was more prone to being intimidated by her mother-in-law; though Lalli was Ensi’s favorite among her grandchildren, Tuulikki always felt that Ensi found her wanting, and simply would not let this notion be shaken from her. Her sister-in-law, Anne-Marie, scoffed at this, noting that Ensi was more likely to scorn Anne-Marie herself for rendering her descendants un-immune, though Ensi enjoyed little Onni and Tuuri’s company as much as she could, when Ensi could tear herself away from the forest.

That was the key. Ensi and Lalli were both creatures of the forest; while Ensi loved her other little mageling and her granddaughter, they were inherently unlike her, both through lack of immunity and in another, more basic way. This was half the secret of the silent communion Lalli and Ensi enjoyed: they were like enough to know how each others’ thoughts ran without words.

Again, Ensi loved Onni, with his bright mind and eagerness to learn magecraft; and she loved Tuuri, with her boldness and her cheeriness; but sometimes, the forest called, and neither Onni nor Tuuri could go where Ensi must. Sometimes, even Lalli could not, and Ensi felt an unaccustomed loneliness.

Then the time came, as she knew it must, when she had to send all three children away. All things had their price, and the price this little knot of humanity would pay for its being passed over for so long would be its obliteration. Ensi meant to ensure that, now that this obliteration was upon them, the children at least would survive.

Onni was a strong youth now, and Ensi knew he would keep the others safe. She wished she didn’t have to lay this burden on him, but there was no other way.

The forest called Ensi for the last time, and for the last time, Ensi went forth...


End file.
